The huge Cold War aircraft - which once carried Britain's atomic bombs - took off from Doncaster Robin Hood Airport for a short final trip after the gloomy South Yorkshire skies cleared.

The pilot at the controls of XH558, Martin Withers, led the first of the now legendary raids on the Falklands by the Vulcans in 1982 - the only time the aircraft ever dropped bombs in anger in its long RAF service.

The XH558, which first came into RAF service in 1960, has been kept in the air by a volunteer trust since 2007.

The Vulcan was last seen in Northern Ireland at the Portrush Air Waves in September this year, when it was flown by Belfast pilot Bill Perrins.

This summer, millions of people watched as the hulking aircraft made a farewell tour of the UK before its permit-to-fly expires at the end of October.